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Marcy Gordon

WASHINGTON | The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sued 16 big banks that set a key global interest rate, accusing them of fraud and conspiring to keep the rate low to enrich themselves.

The banks, which include Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the U.S., are among the world's largest.

The FDIC says it is seeking to recover losses suffered from the rate manipulation by 10 U.S. banks that failed during the financial crisis and were taken over by the agency. The civil lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan.

WASHINGTON — The financial penalty is staggering. JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay $920 billion for trading losses that shook the financial world last year.

But the bigger price may be a few words rarely uttered in settlements with U.S. regulators: The nation's largest bank is also admitting wrongdoing.

JPMorgan's acknowledged failure of oversight in the $6 billion trading loss is a first for a major company since the Securities and Exchange Commission reversed its longstanding practice of allowing firms to pay fines without accepting fault.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. agency says consumers who opt for overdraft coverage on their checking accounts pay higher fees and are more likely to have their accounts closed than those who decline it.

A report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released Tuesday says it's hard for consumers to anticipate and avoid overdraft charges. It found that the cost for "opting in" for overdraft coverage varies widely from one bank to the next.

Customers of some banks paid average charges of $298 annually, while those at others paid $147.

WASHINGTON — Americans are less confident in the economy than they were last month as massive government spending cuts have stoked economic uncertainty.

It's just the latest swing in the way Americans feel about the economy. Their views have fluctuated between optimism and angst over the months as they've weighed an advancing stock market and housing recovery against new economic challenges.

WASHINGTON — CEOs from more than 80 major U.S. companies are pressing Congress to reduce the federal deficit by raising taxes and cutting spending. With a sea of red ink confronting the nation, the deficit and how to tame it has become a looming theme in the presidential campaign.

WASHINGTON — The average U.S. rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has fallen to near its record low set earlier this month.

The rate on the most popular mortgage dipped to 3.37 percent from 3.39 last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Two weeks ago, the rate reached 3.36 percent, its lowest level on records dating to 1971.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, often used for refinancing, set a record low of 2.66 percent, down from last week’s 2.7 percent.

WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Congress on Wednesday that senior bank executives responsible for a $2 billion trading loss will probably have some of their pay taken back by the company.

Under bank policy, stock grants and bonuses can be recovered from executives, even for exercising bad judgment, Dimon told the Senate Banking Commitee. The policy has never been invoked, he said, but he strongly suggested that it will be.

WASHINGTON — Regulators are examining whether Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that shepherded Facebook through its highly publicized stock offering last week, selectively informed clients of an analyst's negative report about the company before the stock started trading.

Rick Ketchum, the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-policing body for the securities industry, said Tuesday that the question is "a matter of regulatory concern" for his organization and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are reviewing what JPMorgan Chase told investors about its finances and the risks it took weeks before suffering a multibillion-dollar trading loss.

Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday that the agency is examining JPMorgan's earnings statements and first-quarter financial reports to determine if they were "accurate and truthful."